Employees really are what makes a company. In order to build on your success as an organisation, you need to make sure that you make the right hires. If you get it wrong, it can not only be costly in terms of rectifying your mistakes but in the impact, it has on your customer base. Read on to find out how you can make sure you get it right first time, every time, with our four tips for hiring employees more effectively.
1. Really consider the position and the requirements
The first step in recruiting is to produce a job specification and to think about the essential skills that any potential employees should have. A common mistake that managers make when hiring employees is to not pay too much attention to this step in the process and just treat it as an admin task. But this is your opportunity to really design the job around the needs of the company. Think carefully about what you will need them to take care of once they start, then decide which skills they need to be able to hit the ground running once you do hire.
2. Include others
In order to make the best possible hire, you need to make sure you include others. The best way to really make sure an employee will fit into an existing team is to include someone from that team in the recruitment process, from start to finish. They will have an insight that you, as a manager, might not possess and they will understand who might well be successful and more likely to fit in with what you already have in place.
It might seem like a strange approach to take in regards to hierarchy in a company, but the most successful companies in the world act similarly. Amazon, for instance, ensures that every employee, even those at the very top, spend at least two days on the service desk every year.
3. Test candidates
Some people are very skilled at making their CVs look amazing and answering interview questions well. Others aren’t, yet that doesn’t mean that they aren’t the best fit for the role you have on offer. How could you possibly pick up on this if you just stuck to the traditional interview scenario? One way to really get to know how right a person is for your role is to test them. Have them perform a task that they would have to in the role you are hiring for. If it’s customer service, perform a role play, for writers, have them write something, or if it’s finance, have them balance some accounts. Just make sure that the test is really relevant to the job role and it could tell you a lot about who the best candidate is.
4. Forget the silly questions
The interview is all about finding out if an employee is suitable for the role. You need to find out if they have the appropriate skills and motivation to succeed. You don’t need to find out what they think of garden gnomes or how they would fit an elephant into a refrigerator (both popular questions to ask in interviews). These just serve to make candidates nervous and really don’t tell you anything about how they would perform in the role. Stick to finding out about the candidate professionally to get an idea of what they can do.